RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Whoa, Nellie!!
Ohio State game (Oct. 11th): 11:00am CT, FOX
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altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
I recall Brent doing the BT noon game on CBS in the early 80s (eg Illini v Michigan in ‘83) before his Zeppelin-sized ego got him canned in ‘90. Don’t recall on ABC but maybe he landed there.
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
You are looking LIVE….
To confirm, Fox hasn't announced their Big Noon kickoff show will be from Champaign for the Ohio State game correct? Although it's only game between ranked teams fox has that day, the Kansas at Texas Tech game might be the one they decide to set up the show given Texas Tech is undefeated and ranked 11 and Kansas has Jayden Daniels. I assume they don't always host the show from where the actual noon game is being played and given they were just in Champaign, I would imagine they don't like to come back twice in 2 weeks to the same location
They were the best... but don't forget Jack Arute!
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
They visited Bloomington twice in short order last fall IIRC. IU was, however, flavor of the month at the time.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
He was apparently an absolute terror by the end of the '80s given his stature. CBS' firing of him (on the Sunday of Final Four weekend in '90 IIRC to deliberately defenestrate him in as public a manner as possible... he had to show up Monday evening to do the title game in the wake of that humiliation) sent him into the wilderness and he returned a fairly decent human being from what I understand.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Or the back-to-back weeks in Boulder a couple years back. They go where the hype is. If Illinois takes care of business on Saturday, you will have #1 visiting a roughly top 20 team. That very well may be enough to get them to come back again.
But first, the Illini need to maintain the Cannon. Going into Ohio State game at 5-1 was always the realistic goal, and the Illini can get there (even if they got humiliated in the "1").
Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
I lived in Alaska for a little over 16 years - I LOVED getting up and watching college football with my morning coffee at 8:00 local. All the games were done by around 5, left time for a cookout without worrying about missing a game. And yes, we cooked out all year long 
Illiniblueorange
- Pontoon Beach IL
"the news was just announced that FOX will feature the matchup as its Big Noon Kickoff game of the week."
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
He did after CBS canned him. ABC coverage was regional back then so there would be multiple 2:30 ABC games each week. IIRC Keith did a lot of USC stuff back then but would travel out east for the big games. Brent did a lot of games in the 90's.
Listening to the Barstool college football podcast "Unnecessary Roughness" and they talk about the upcoming Illinois OSU game. They don't come out and completely say Big Noon is coming but they hint at it. Hope this is true and it can become a standard. I also go back and watch the TV broadcast after being at games and Memorial Stadium looks good on a bigtime broadcast. Still some room for improvement with the horseshoe but overall it displays well.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Yeah, that figures. From '91-'98 I saw nearly no college football so would have missed that. Keith was a Wazzu alum, lived on a ranch out west IIRC, and apparently disliked having to fly to the Midwest for BT games. Loved doing the Pac-8/10/12 games, however.
He was an icon. I wanted to be a sports broadcaster when I was in elementary school and could imitate him perfectly. Used to wander around the neighborhood doing imaginary KJ play-by-play commentary. The neighbors surely thought I was touched.
The one thing I won't forgive him for, however, was coining the phrase "The Big House."
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
Keith is still the GOAT for college football IMO. So legendary. I do remember he did the Colorado miracle game at the Big House in 1994. Always thought it was fitting his last broadcast was the epic Texas vs USC title game in the Rose Bowl in 2006. Maybe the best game ever played.Yeah, that figures. From '91-'98 I saw nearly no college football so would have missed that. Keith was a Wazzu alum, lived on a ranch out west IIRC, and apparently disliked having to fly to the Midwest for BT games. Loved doing the Pac-8/10/12 games, however.
He was an icon. I wanted to be a sports broadcaster when I was in elementary school and could imitate him perfectly. Used to wander around the neighborhood doing imaginary KJ play-by-play commentary. The neighbors surely thought I was touched.
The one thing I won't forgive him for, however, was coining the phrase "The Big House."
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
You bring up a good point. He was my idol as a kid and I read everything I could about him. Someone asked him near his retirement what the greatest game he'd ever seen was. As I recall, he cited one of the UCLA-USC games in the late '60s. Maybe the one that OJ Simpson won in epic fashion. Anyway, I wonder if anyone asked him after that TX-USC match if that game surpassed the other one.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
His response when asked was just a simple "Woah Nellie!!"
Ha! Yes, Jalon Daniels that is
That would improve the Jayhawks big time, if true
I go there once a week for lunch, added it to my weekly lunch sites. Li’L Porgys is also on that weekly rotation.
Unless recently opened back up Blackdog Champaign had a roof fire and was closed for a bit but Urbana Blackdog was open. Plus you have the legendary Bunnys Tavern next door.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
Can't go wrong with Li'l Porgy's either. The one benefit of a lot of bad football seasons is you get good at leaving the game early to find somewhere to go eat lunch!
When I was 13 or so, my first job was working for my uncle who owned a tree service business - mostly splitting wood, mowing, washing the trucks, that kind of thing. But once a week, on Sundays I believe, I'd get up when it was still dark and we'd deliver a dump truck full of split hickory to both Lil Porgys locations.
We'd unload and stack the wood one log at a time in a small shed. No matter how hard or fast we worked, we couldn't seem to put a dent in the massive mound of logs in the truck. Eventually though, there always came a point when there was no more wood to stack and we'd go inside for a sandwich and a lemon shake up.
It was hard, dirty, sweaty work that we did rain or shine. But it was all worth it once they called our number and those sandwiches came out.
When the L'il Porgy's opened in Urbana (I think 1978-79), my roommate got a job there. I delivered pizza for Willie's. We had the best "leftovers" all the time. If he was working at closing, they could take food home. I always worked to closing (Fri/Sat night). We took orders until 3AM and there were so many pizzas never delivered because no one answered (most likely passed out). Anybody that wanted one could take it. Whole pies for the next day.
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